Roma sporting director Monchi has confirmed that the club are considering their legal options after missing out on Bordeaux winger Malcom to Barcelona.
The Italian outfit were understood to be on the brink of completing a deal for the 21-year-old winger and even made a public announcement revealing that they had agreed terms with Bordeaux.
However, just 24 hours later Barcelona confirmed that they had completed the £37.3m signing of the Brazilian, who has put pen to paper on a five-year contract at Camp Nou.
"We are looking at our options and seeing if we have a legal case. It is true that nothing was signed, but there are many messages with the agents and their president that are at least worth being assessed. It is true that, a few days ago, I was aware that a lot of squads were keen on Malcom - Barcelona among them. Because of this we got the deal agreed as quickly as we could: it was done," Monchi told the club's official website.
"So I was very surprised when one of the representatives of the player called me to tell me that Bordeaux had withdrawn permission for the player to travel to Rome. I called [Bordeaux president Stephane] Martin and he told me that an offer had come in from Barcelona that was better than ours and that if we did not raise our offer we could not have the player.
"I told him that we had an agreement, we had made the deal, but he said that nothing had been signed and that, despite having sent some documents to be signed, nothing could be done. I informed our president (James Pallotta), telling him of the change - and he gave me the green light to push forward and make a new offer that was better than Barcelona's. That was against my opinion, but he insisted he was willing and said, 'Go for it'.
"I informed the Bordeaux president and his agents that Roma were ready to beat Barcelona's offer. Their president told me that we needed to send it in officially. At 11pm we submitted a formal document with the offer president Pallotta was willing to make.
"I told them enough, because we did not want to enter an auction. We could not continue like that. And yesterday we had only raised our offer because of the willingness and desire of our president. So that was how everything ended. If someone wants to come to Roma that is great, but ultimately if they do not want to come to Rome then we do not want them."
Malcom, who had also been linked with a move to the Premier League, scored 20 goals in 84 Ligue 1 appearances for Bordeaux prior to his exit.
Barney Corkhill
